MiGRATION GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK The essential elements for facilitating orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people through planned and well-managed migration policies.
MiGOF Principles and Objectives 1. Adherence to international standards and fulfillment of migrants rights. 1. Advance the socioeconomic well-being of migrants and society. 2. Formulates policy using evidence and whole-of-government approach. 3. Engages with partners to address migration and related issues. Principles Objectives 2. Effectively address the mobility dimensions of crises. 3. Ensure that migration takes place in a safe, orderly and dignified manner. The three principles propose the necessary conditions for migration to be well-managed by creating a more effective environment for maximized results for migration to be beneficial to all. These represent the means through which a State will ensure that the systemic requirements for good migration governance are in place. The three objectives are specific and do not require any further conventions, laws or practices than the ones that are already existing. Taken together, these objectives ensure that migration is governed in an integrated and holistic way, responding to the need to consider mobile categories of people and address their needs for assistance in the event of an emergency, building resilience of individuals and communities, as well as ensuring opportunities for the economic and social health of the State. 2 3
MiGOF Principles Principle 1: Adherence to international standards and the fulfilment of migrants rights Humane and orderly migration requires compliance with international law. The obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of individuals is paramount and applies to all individuals within a State s territory, regardless of nationality or migration status and without discrimination, in order to preserve their safety, physical integrity, well-being and dignity. Protecting the rights of individuals includes combating xenophobia, racism and discrimination, ensuring adherence with the principles of equality and non-discrimination, and ensuring access to protection. change and crises. At the same time, the law and policy affecting the movement of people include travel and temporary mobility, immigration, emigration, nationality, labour markets, economic and social development, industry, commerce, social cohesion, social services, health, education, law enforcement, foreign policy, trade and humanitarian policy. Good migration governance therefore relies on whole-of-government approaches, whereby all ministries with responsibilities touching on the movement of people are implicated. In this way, a State can ensure that migration and mobility policy advances its broader interests. Principle 2: Migration and related policies are best formulated using evidence and wholeof-government approaches Migration policy is often the subject of intense political debate and can be based on populist sentiments. Migration policy must be based on facts and a well-founded analysis of the benefits and risks the movement of people poses to the State. To govern migration well, a State would collect, analyse and use credible data and information on, among other things, demographics, cross-border movements, internal displacement, diasporas, labour markets, seasonal trends, education and health. Furthermore, a State would seek to understand migration trends and reflect them in policies, including links with environmental degradation, climate Principle 3: Good migration governance relies on strong partnerships By their very nature, migration and mobility implicate multiple actors: States and their neighbours, subnational authorities, local communities, migrants and their families, diasporas, employers and unions. In addition, there are dozens of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations whose mandates touch on migration and humanitarian action. Governing migration well requires partnerships to broaden the understanding of migration, and to develop comprehensive and effective approaches. 4 5
MiGOF Objectives Objective 1: Good migration governance and related policy should seek to advance the socioeconomic well-being of migrants and society Poverty, instability, lack of access to education or other basic services are only some of the factors that can push individuals to migrate. Those who are pushed to migrate unlike those who choose to migrate may be more likely to do so under undesirable or dangerous conditions, including by accessing the services of unethical recruiters, smugglers or traffickers. Governing migration well would therefore mean promoting stability, education and employment opportunities and reducing the drivers of forced migration, including by promoting resilience, thereby enabling individuals to make the choice between staying or migrating. Even if the drivers of forced migration were eliminated, individuals would still choose to move, for example, to seek different or greater opportunities or to reunite with their families. Migration and related law and policy therefore need to be designed to also foster strong socioeconomic outcomes for migrants and communities of origin, transit and destination. Objective 2: Good migration governance is based on effective responses to the mobility dimensions of crises In 2015, 60 million individuals were displaced as a result of natural and manmade disasters; a large number of forced migrants remain in protracted displacement situations, including in urban areas. Crises have significant long-term effects on migrants and society. Therefore, concerted action by the international community is required to: prevent and prepare for crisis; support migrants, displaced persons and communities affected by crises in accordance with humanitarian principles; and promote durable solutions to end displacement. Addressing the root causes of crises and associated population movements needs to be part of longer-term approaches towards recovery, transition and sustainable development. In addition, the international community should respond to crises with the understanding that migration is an inevitable consequence, and that recovery and transition efforts require consideration of the needs of migrants and their communities. Objective 3: Migration should take place in a safe, orderly and dignified manner Ensuring migration is safe and orderly would also mean mitigating the risks associated with the movement of people. This includes applying effective cross-border health measures and strengthening public health strategies to prevent the spread of disease and protect the health of migrants and society. Maintaining the integrity of migration and mobility schemes requires an ability to detect irregular migration and to prohibit illegal cross-border activity. Migration and border agencies would work with national and international justice and security agencies to collect, analyse and use information intelligence, including to address terrorism, as well as trafficking in persons, smuggling in migrants and other transborder criminal activity. 6 7
MiGRATION GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK There is a clear and increasingly sought relationship between emergency, rehabilitation and development, and migration is relevant and a key component of all. The international community recognizes that emergency assistance should be provided in ways that support long-term development to ensure smooth transition from relief to rehabilitation. At the same time, economic growth and sustainable development are essential for prevention of, preparedness and resilience against natural disasters and other emergencies. Migration is a growing trend, yet there has so far not been an agreed document that clearly presents the elements of good governance of human mobility. IOM s Migration Governance Framework seeks to present, in a consolidated, coherent and comprehensive way, a set of three principles and three objectives which, if respected and fulfilled, would ensure that migration is humane, orderly, and benefits migrants and society. 36_16 17 route des Morillons, P.O. Box 17, 1211 Geneva 19, Switzerland Tel.: +41 22 717 9111 Fax: +41 22 798 6150 E-mail: hq@iom.int Website: www.iom.int